Wedding Dress, Bermuda, mid-19th century
This stunning two-piece wedding dress is believed to have been created in Bermuda during the 1850s, although the top half was made at a different time. It is fabricated from 80-count Irish linen and embellished with extensive intricate embroidery, including stitching such as broderie anglaise and reticello. The dress would have taken between three and four years to make and was almost certainly made by the woman who eventually wore it. It came into the Trust’s possession by chance when Hugh Davidson – who was Chair of both the Museums Committee and the annual auction – rescued it from the jumble sale in 2005. Expert seamstress and Trust volunteer, Elizabeth Cooper, painstakingly washed the dress seven times and spent about 200 hours repairing it. The dress is currently in storage, with plans to re-display it at Verdmont in the new year.
